Rustic Beauty

     There was something about this scene that seemed to be verging on irony, or perhaps just rustic beauty. The fact that people - like the teenage girl in this photo - can create such grandiose pieces of art, using a mere piece of chalk, blows my mind. While drawing on pavement with chalk is often thought of as a past-time for four-year-old children, the I Madonnari chalk festival absolutely incinerates that stereotype.

     There was something about the girl in this photo that I found interesting and admirable. She was solely engaged and enraptured in her masterpiece that would soon be washed away with time. To put so much passion and heart into a temporary piece of art takes a lot of endurance. I think that is the main reasons why chalk festivals like this one are so unique from all other forms of visual art. Michelangelo immortalized David into a piece of marble. Van Gogh painted The Starry Night on a canvas which can still be seen today. And the chalk artist wakes up to find his creation has vanished with time.

     Another vignette I would like to talk about is the way she blinded herself from the dozens and dozens of speculators who swarmed around her on all sides. It seemed that she was not concerned about people's opinions of her or her artwork, and she also seemed to be unaware of any time that may have escaped her since she started this iconic image of Mary. Do I think she is apathetic? No, she was entranced in her passion; this mental state of being is a place where all artists must become familiar with prior to - and amidst - the fabrication of a tasteful piece of art.